Watercolor palette
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I've had some requests for the paints and colors I use, so I thought I'd put this information right on my website for anyone who's interested. I like a fairly limited palette. I bought a travel Cottman set (top left) and have added Windsor and Newton professional grade tube paint as I used colors up. I love the one that has the pull out tray underneath for extra mixing areas. That way I can have dedicated mixing areas for each color family without having to clean out and start over between colors. The gray area goes from warm to cool, and other changes like that happen, but overall the main color families each have their own space.
I also have a tiny, always-in-my-purse kit that I made out of a mint tin (top right). The diagram of the colors I put in that one, which is pretty much everything in my main palette but in smaller amounts is at the bottom of this page.
My-go to basics are ultramarine blue and burnt umber (they make marvelous grays and blacks that you can push from warm to cool). I also have raw sienna and yellow ochre (used occasionally) in the earth tones category. The set came with cerulean blue which I rarely use, but I've added cobalt blue, my go-to sky color, and cobalt teal (not W&N). For greens I use sap green more than anything. It mixes with ultramarine blue for cooler and with green gold (which I added to the kit) for warm and springlike. It's also nice with umber for a darker warm green. The set came with veridian too, which is a little harsh, but good for that street sign green and occasionally really cool but light greens.
For red I mostly use alizarin, but I also have a cadmium red also that mixes nicely with cadmium yellow for orange. There's a purple (Windsor purple) that gives me a darker red when mixed with alizarin, and which also goes nicely into grays and blues. A second yellow is a lemon yellow. And I just can't mix pink, so I added permanent rose. It's nice with cadmium yellow generally and with raw sienna for flesh tones.
I mostly use one smallish, short handled Cottman brush. It's a flat wedged shaped so you get the tip for fine detail and the wider part for bigger swatches. I also use two double palette cups to really wash between colors. Wash, wash, wash, dip. That keeps my colors from getting muddy.
I keep my brushes, pens, pencils, eraser, and a small piece of mat board for a blotter in one pencil case, so it's a pretty easy to carry set of supplies.
I also have a tiny, always-in-my-purse kit that I made out of a mint tin (top right). The diagram of the colors I put in that one, which is pretty much everything in my main palette but in smaller amounts is at the bottom of this page.
My-go to basics are ultramarine blue and burnt umber (they make marvelous grays and blacks that you can push from warm to cool). I also have raw sienna and yellow ochre (used occasionally) in the earth tones category. The set came with cerulean blue which I rarely use, but I've added cobalt blue, my go-to sky color, and cobalt teal (not W&N). For greens I use sap green more than anything. It mixes with ultramarine blue for cooler and with green gold (which I added to the kit) for warm and springlike. It's also nice with umber for a darker warm green. The set came with veridian too, which is a little harsh, but good for that street sign green and occasionally really cool but light greens.
For red I mostly use alizarin, but I also have a cadmium red also that mixes nicely with cadmium yellow for orange. There's a purple (Windsor purple) that gives me a darker red when mixed with alizarin, and which also goes nicely into grays and blues. A second yellow is a lemon yellow. And I just can't mix pink, so I added permanent rose. It's nice with cadmium yellow generally and with raw sienna for flesh tones.
I mostly use one smallish, short handled Cottman brush. It's a flat wedged shaped so you get the tip for fine detail and the wider part for bigger swatches. I also use two double palette cups to really wash between colors. Wash, wash, wash, dip. That keeps my colors from getting muddy.
I keep my brushes, pens, pencils, eraser, and a small piece of mat board for a blotter in one pencil case, so it's a pretty easy to carry set of supplies.
